Most of us doesn't have any disposable income to directly invest. Instead we have indirectly become investors thanks to the part of the salary set aside for us in the form of taxes and payments to pension plans. I don't have the numbers, and it differs from country to country, but it's a huge chunk of your salary. Like ~20% of your gross income is used to finance your retirement because you might live several decades after you retire.
The Swedish system (totally simplifying here) works so that once a year you get to allocate about half your tax collected savings to a list of funds selected by some government officials. Another part of your pension if paid by your employer through a pension broker and again you can select among a list of approved funds. All of the funds you can choose from charges a hefty fee to manage your capital.
Had I had the choice I would have withdrawn all my money and paid of my home loans which would have given me a completely risk free return of 3%/year. Instead I can only choose among these funds whose fund managers managed to grease some government official enough to put them on their approved list.
In that specific case, you do seem to be trapped, and I too would be frustrated about that, but it seems like you have the trapper wrong. The financial markets are providing the cheapest investment options ever, but your representative government is taking that away from you.
I'm not even willing to say that is a net bad thing (there may be all manner of benefits that come along with it), but place the blame where it belongs.
It's worth mentioning here, that since the money is effectively trapped in the mandatory Swedish Pension System (It's basically a locked US 401k with mandatory installments done through Pay As You Earn, ie. done automatically) the Swedish Pension Fund Board, who oversees the system - have negotiated brutal Fund Fee savings for each fund. Some of the mutual funds are almost free from fees.
This is why I detest all forms of social security/pensions. The government is not smarter than the individual. It's my money, not the government's. I don't need some elected or appointed official to be in charge of my investments. In the U.S., the government can't even balance a budget; something I do every month.
The Swedish system (totally simplifying here) works so that once a year you get to allocate about half your tax collected savings to a list of funds selected by some government officials. Another part of your pension if paid by your employer through a pension broker and again you can select among a list of approved funds. All of the funds you can choose from charges a hefty fee to manage your capital.
Had I had the choice I would have withdrawn all my money and paid of my home loans which would have given me a completely risk free return of 3%/year. Instead I can only choose among these funds whose fund managers managed to grease some government official enough to put them on their approved list.